Tom Holland
Tom Holland is the writer and director of Fright Night ''and ''Child's Play. Today he's primarily known as a horror director but during the 1960s and '70s Holland acted under the pseudonym Tom Fielding. '' In addition to appearing in a handful of low-budget movies, he was familiar to TV audiences from soap operas, prime-time shows and hundreds of commercials. Biography Early Life Thomas Lee Holland was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, the son of Lee and Tom Holland. During childhood, his father worked for a department store chain, which caused the family to frequently travel. "By the time I was two, I had been in almost every state," Holland revealed in a 1966 interview. "I've been in five schools and now I'm a transfer student at New York University."''TV Picture Life, August 1966, Tom Fielding, the Two Faces of a Rebel During his youth he felt like an outsider, and this probably helped shape his career in the horror genre. "I always felt left out in school. I remember when I was in fourth grade, I felt everybody was on one side and I was on the other." An only child, Tom's closest companion was his beloved dog Tippy, who comforted him when his parents were fighting. "They separated one year out of every ten, and there were times when my parents used to get at each other, by each complaining to me about the other." Things began to turn around for Tom in eighth grade when he received a love letter from a girl who gushed, "I need you, and I want you, and I love you! After that, I got admiration and acceptance and I felt better." Although he had always been a fan of movies, the acting bug bit him in high school, when he performed in a number of school play. At 16, he spent the summer as an apprentice at Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, PA, and enjoyed the experience so much that he considered dropping out of school and pursuing a career in the theatre. "My parents had a hell of a time getting me to finish high school and go to college. I'm glad they made me do it." 1960's - '70s Acting Career Holland attended Ossining Public High School before transferring to Worcester Academy where he graduated in 1962. He then entered Northwestern University as a drama major, before transferring to New York University. While in New York, he took drama classes at the Herbert Berghof Studio, studing under Berghof and his wife Uta Hagen, Irene Daily and Frank Casaro. He also went to the world famous Actor's Studio and studied under the tutelage of the legendary Lee Strasberg. Despite his passion for showbiz, Holland found difficulties acting. "I had a bad time, emotionally. I was fired from an off-Broadway show." At the behest of a friend, Holland landed a modeling gig which paid $7,000, an exorbitant salary in the early 1960s, so he decided to splurge on his mother. "I bought her some fine jewelry, and she said, Why didn't you buy me something practical like a transistor radio? It took me two years to recover from that remark." In 1963, Holland landed a studio contract. "People with Warner Bros. took me to Jack Warner, and he picked me personally." Unfortunately, the actor's union wouldn't permit him to use his real name, since there was another actor named Tom Holland, so he changed his name to Tom Fielding. His first job was dubbing dialogue for the Elia Kazan drama America, America. His television debut was on the short-lived Western Temple Houston, which he followed up with a spot on the popular 77 Sunset Strip. Holland didn't like the nature of Hollywood and realized work was more lucrative in New York, so he asked to be let out of his contract. After appearing on the soap operas The Doctors and the Nurses and Love of Life, he landed a regular role on the struggling daytime series A Time for Us (previously titled'' A Flame in the Wind''), replacing Gordon Gray. After the series was canceled, Holland migrated back to California and began appearing in guest-starring roles in television shows such as Felony Squad, Combat!, Medical Center, and The Incredible Hulk. His film work was sparse and relegated to independent movies and bit parts, including A Walk in the Spring Rain alongside Anthony Quinn and Ingrid Bergman. His only leading film role was the 1972 dramedy Josie's Castle, in which he co-starred with Star Trek veteran George Takei, but the film suffered a variety of production problems and was ultimately re-edited and sold as a sexploitation film. To supplement his income, he also took roles in TV commercials, and amassed more than 200 commercial credits. Holland was never entirely happy as an actor. "In the beginning I did everything, worked as a Grip, Loader, PA, what have you," Holland said. "In my mind I was always working toward directing feature films and so I decided early on that any job I could take on a working set would give me the tools to make my own films."B-Movie Nation: A Few Moments with Tom Holland" Worrying that his Hollywood career might not pan out, Holland attended the UCLA School of Law, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He also received his Juris Doctorate from the UCLA School of Law. "I had just taken the Bar Exam and I was waiting for my results, which at the time took three months to post," he told B-Movie Nation. "At the same time I received word that a treatment I had written had been optioned." As a struggling actor I had become used to being poor, so I decided to pursue my passion to create rather than litigate. And I've never really looked back." Holland did pass the Bar Exam on his first attempt and has been a member of the California Bar Association since 1973. In December 2009 Holland was cast for Adam Green's Hatchet 2, who star alongside Danielle Harris, Tony Todd, Kane Hodder, and R.A. Mihailoff.title='Hatchet 2' Picked Up By Dark Sky Films, Plans to Build Franchise! He narrated the film Hatchet II alongside Adam Green on San Diego Comic-Con International 2010. In an interview published in January 2011 with mondo-video.com, Holland shared some stories about his acting days, which included working with legendary actress Ingrid Bergman, and martial arts expert, Bruce Lee. 1970's - '80s: Screenwriting Holland's first screenplay, The View from 30 was optioned for $1500 in 1972 by producer Dick Berg.Tom Holland: The Hollywood Interview Although that film never materialized, Berg later used Holland's treatment for a 1978 movie of the week entitled The Initiation of Sarah, which owed a heavy debt to the previous year's smash hit Carrie. The movie got big ratings and became noted for a scene in which Morgan Fairchild wound up drenched in a fountain. "You could see her nipples," Holland howled.The Beast Within'' Director's Audio Commentary, Shout Factory, 2013'' "was the first on American television to have a wet T-shirt scene in it and it created a firestorm of controversy."The Awesome Fest: A Conversation with Tom Holland Director of Fright Night & Child’s Play Holland continued to hammer out scripts and his first movie produced was the 1981 film The Beast Within. Financially it was considered a failure, but the aspiring director was so happy to have penned a feature that it gave him the confidence to tackle his next project. Holland paired with Hitchock protegee Richard Franklin on made-for-TV sequel to the 1960 classic Psycho. "I never worked harder, that script was my life," he commented. During that flourishing age of TV movies, it wasn't unusual for the networks to produce low-rent sequels like 1976's Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby for television, but Holland crafted the script with so much care that it attracted star Anthony Perkins. Once word began to spread that Perkins was set to reprise his iconic role, the status was changed from a movie-of-the-week to a full-fledged theatrical film. "That was the number one movie that summer, it did a $100 million world wide," Holland boasted. He hadn't been asked to participate during the filming of The Beast Within, so Holland worked closely with Franklin to ensure his vision made it to the screen, even acting in a bit part in the movie as the Sheriff's deputy. Holland's next screenplay, Cloak & Dagger, was a semi-remake of Hitchcock's Rear Window, this time with a child protagonist. Again Franklin directed. "It wasn’t a success when it came out, because the studio didn’t know what to do with it, because it was a family oriented film when they were making a lot of R rated films," Holland commented. "But they played the shit out of it on cable and it became enormously influential." The source story, Cornell Woolrich's The Window, resonated with Holland and unintentionally became the model for his next three films as well. The next screenplay to be produced was A Scream for Help, which was originally supposed to be directed by Franklin, but ultimately the directorial reigns went to b-movie legend Michael Winner. "It was unreleasable," Holland lamented.AICN HORROR talks with fear-meister Tom Holland about CHILD’S PLAY, PSYCHO 2, FRIGHT NIGHT, and his new project TWISTED TALES! "And then I started directing in a way of self-defense." Dead Rabbit Films/Directing He founded alongside his compatriot David Chackler the horror film company Dead Rabbit Films;|title=Dead Rabit Films – Official the first feature premiere film was the remake of Fright Night. Holland also wrote and directed a series of anthology shorts for FearNet entitled "Tom Holland's Twisted Tales." The series was issued on DVD as a feature-length anthology.title=Tom Holland to Unleash His New Brand of Twisted Tales On directing, he would be famous for writing and directing twisted tales ordinary people facing the unknown and evil beings from beyond. He began by writing the scripts of the films The Beast Within and Psycho II, followed later by directing Fright Night, Child's Play, and the TV films The Stranger Within and The Langoliers. The only non horror film he made was the crime comedy-drama Fatal Beauty. Interviews Choice Cuts - Episode 25 - Tom Holland, Part 3 Adam Green's Scary Sleepover - Episode 3 Tom Holland Galleries Fright Night TomHolland.jpg Fright Night 1985 Director Tom Holland Smoking On-Set.jpg Fright Night director Tom Holland.jpg Fright Night Tom Holland Roddy McDowall.jpg SarandonHolland.jpg Fright Night 1985 Stephen Geoffreys Amanda Bearse Tom Holland Roddy McDowall.jpg Fright Night 1985 Tom Holland Bat Storyboards.jpg Fright Night 1985 Chris Sarandon Tom Holland.jpg Fright Night 1985 Morgan Fairchild Tom Holland Chris Sarandon.jpg Fright Night 1985 Roddy McDowall Tom Holland.jpg Fright Night 1985 Tom Holland William Ragsdale Chris Sarandon Amanda Bearse.jpg Fright Night 1985 Stephen Geoffreys Roddy McDowall Tom Holland.jpg Fright Night Crew and Wolf.jpg Fright Night Alley Tom Holland.jpg Fright Night 1985 Tom Holland stakes Chris Sarandon.jpg Psycho II Psycho II Anthony Perkins and Tom Holland.jpg|With Anthony Perkins Child's Play Child's Play Chucky Tom Holland.jpg Tom Holland and Chucky on the Set of Child's Play.jpg Brad Dourif and Tom Holland Child's Play.jpg Josie's Castle Josie's Castle Tom Holland and Holly Mascott.jpg Josie's Castle Tom Holland George Takei Holly Mascott.jpg Josie's Castle Tom Holland 01.jpg Josie's Castle Tom Holland Holly Mascott George Takei.jpg Josie's Castle Tom Holland Holly Mascott 1.jpg Josie's Castle Tom Holland John Bakos.jpg Josie's Castle Holly Mascott Tom Holland Kiss.jpg Josie's Castle Tom Holland George Takei and Holly Mascott.jpg Josie's Castle Tom Holland Holly Mascott.jpg Josie's Castle Holly Mascott George Takei Tom Holland.jpg Josie's Castle Tom Holland 02.jpg Josie's Castle Tom Holland 03.jpg Model Shop Model Shop Gary Lockwood Tom Holland Alexandra Hay.jpg Model Shop Tom Holland Alexandra Hay.jpg Model Shop Gary Lockwood Tom Holland.jpg A Time For Us (aka A Flame in the Wind) A Flame in the Wind Tom Holland Beverly Hayes.jpg A Time for Us Beverly Hayes and Tom Holland.JPG A Flame in the Wind Beverly Hayes Terrence Logan Tom Holland.jpg A Flame in the Wind Walter Coy Tom Holland.jpg A Flame in the Wind Tom Holland and Terrence Logan.jpg A Time For Us Thomas Coley and Tom Holland.jpg A Time For Us Tom Holland 02.jpg A Time For Us Tom Holland 01.jpg A Walk in the Spring Rain A Walk in the Spring Rain Anthony Quinn Tom Holland Ingrid Bergman.JPG A Walk in the Spring Rain Ingrid Bergman Anthony Quinn and Tom Holland.JPG A Walk in the Spring Rain Tom Holland Anthony Quinn.JPG A Walk in the Spring Rain Tom Holland.JPG Combat, "Entombed" Tom Holland Combat (1967) Entombed 01.jpg Combat 1967 'Entombed' Tom Holland Rick Jason.jpg The Incredible Hulk, "Another Path Tom Holland The Incredible Hulk Another Path 07.jpg Tom Holland The Incredible Hulk Another Path.jpg Tom Holland The Incredible Hulk Another Path 04.jpg Tom Holland The Incredible Hulk Another Path 02.jpg Tom Holland The Incredible Hulk Another Path 03.jpg Tom Holland The Incredible Hulk Another Path 05.jpg Tom Holland The Incredible Hulk Another Path 06.jpg Twisted Tales Tom Holland's Twisted Tales.jpg|Tom Holland's Twisted Tales Filmography Film Television Awards and Nominations References External links *Facebook *Tom Holland's Terror Time *The Internet Movie Database Category:Directors Category:Writers Category:Tom Holland Category:Crew